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There is a cloud of dust as Daphne sets down the last of the moving boxes. “Finally!”
Red knows there’s nobody she’d rather share the staggering New York City rent prices with than Daphne, and this is just one of the thousands of ways she knows. Nobody else in the world could move so many boxes (some nonmagical, and some enchanted) in such little time while keeping the same sunny attitude as her, and Red is grateful. “Thank you,” she says, sinking into the couch.
“That’s what Grimms do,” Daphne quips. “Wow! It feels so same, but so different , you know?”
“What do you mean?” asks Red, accepting the glass. “Moving in?”
“Yeah. We used to live together, but with way more people. And now we’re roommates!”
“We’ve been roommates for a while,” she points out. “Not when Sabrina was still living with us, but after she went to college.”
“Like she wasn’t rooming with someone else for a hot minute even while she stayed with us,” Daphne says, wiggling her eyebrows. “Emphasis on the hot .”
“How are they, anyways?”
“Same old, same old. They got in a fight about having kids the other day.”
“I thought they both agreed to not have them until their careers were stable.”
“They did. The fight was about whether or not Puck was allowed to repurpose the used diapers as WMDs, since Faerie is pressuring him to militarize the kingdom.”
Red tries her best to keep her expression neutral, but Daphne says, “You can say it’s gross, don’t worry. He’d take it as a compliment.”
She slouches next to Red on the couch, kicking her socked feet up on the coffee table and deftly nudging aside one of the millions of moving boxes. The new haircut suits her––the braids were cute, undoubtedly, but the bob is nice. Wavy. They catch the sloping afternoon light, a soft daffodil tone among the rich brown tresses.
People often say she and Red look alike. In some ways, Red sees the resemblance: the haircuts, the face shapes, the height and build. But that’s where the similarities end. Daphne walks with so much confidence, practically cartwheeling down the crosswalks and in between the busy streets. It’s like she’s powered by fireworks, every crackle and explosion so vibrant and exciting that it has to convert into movement as an outlet.
“Hey,” Daphne says, tugging Red back to reality. “What do you wanna get for dinner tonight? To celebrate our super successful full move-in?”
“Whatever you want.” It’s not that Red is necessarily apathetic, but she loves seeing the way Daphne’s face lights up when she opens her takeout boxes of much-anticipated food. “Wings?”
“You’re a vegetarian,” Daphne says. “Unless you’re not anymore?”
“I like eating the celery and carrot sticks,” she says truthfully.
“That’s not enough to sustain a person.”
“I’ve still got enough leftovers from when Granny sent them with us.”
“Are you sure?” Daphne picks up Red’s hand and gives it a little squeeze. She feels a shiver race up her spine. “We can totally get something else.”
Red shakes her head, smiling. “I’m good, seriously.” She squeezes Daphne’s hand back.
“Whatever you want.”
In the fall, it feels the same, yet so different. Without Granny around to serve them a month’s worth of food plus leftovers, they work out a schedule to cook. They alternate days, and Daphne always remembers to buy oat milk and Red’s favorite brand of tofu chorizo. When they have too much homework from class, they split a pizza down the middle––Daphne’s half loaded with as many toppings as can fit on it, and Red’s with mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes. Most weekends, they both make the drive out to Ferryport Landing, and Red spends an hour with Tobias in their yoga class. It’s a good arrangement.
And in the spring, when Red cooks dinner, Daphne says, “Uncle Jake asked me to go artifact hunting with him.”
Red leans the spatula against the edge of her frying pan. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she says earnestly, messing up her hair with one hand. Snow from a late blizzard falls in little drops onto the rug. “Puck’s been retired for a while, and he needs a new sidekick.”
Amused, Red asks, “You sure he won’t be your sidekick?”
“I don’t mind. What’s a hero without their sidekick, anyways? We,” she says, with a dramatic flourish, “are the real forces behind this operation. Uncle Jake needs a sidekick to keep him in check. His shenanigans are crazy enough.”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
“I always had a feeling that traditional school wasn’t going to cut it for me, anyway,” Daphne says, hopping on the counter to face Red. “There’s so much...structure. I wanna be free, you know?”
In the kitchen light, Daphne’s face reminds Red of the moon. Bright, glowing a soft golden color that illuminates the bridge of her nose and the gentle hollow of her upper lip. “Yeah,” she says softly, “I know.”
“I want to,” Daphne says, “but I don’t want to leave you.”
Red turns.
“I know you’re going to tell me to do what makes me happy,” Daphne says. She’s right. “I mean, looking for magical items around the world sounds awesome! But so is living with my best friend.”
Inside, she feels a rush of giddiness, but manages to say instead, “Not Sabrina?”
“She’s my sister––she’s kinda obligated to be my best friend. You aren’t obligated, but you’re my best friend anyways. You chose to be.”
“I did,” she agrees, laughing.
“What are you making, anyway?”
“Fajitas.”
“Mmm,” Daphne sighs. “My favorite.”
Red giggles. “Everything’s your favorite.”
“That’s true. Well, in any case, I’ll think about it.”
Smiling, she says, “Whatever you want.”
The apartment has two rooms, but sometimes Red makes her way into Daphne’s room. Sometimes when the night terrors are particularly bad, Daphne will come instead. Tonight, Red goes to Daphne.
Daphne sits up when she hears the doorknob creak. “Hey,” she says softly. “Come here.” Daphne, having always been taller than Red, presses up against her back and rests her cheek along the side of Red’s neck. Their fingers entwine, and Daphne leans into Red a little more. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, actually,” she murmurs. “I just...didn’t want to be alone.”
“Okay.”
She always feels braver around Daphne. Like she’s borrowing some of those fireworks that make her so bubbly and happy all the time. When the war was happening, Daphne was always there to make her brave.
It’s raining. The drizzle is quiet on the rooftop, and she knows Daphne will be happy to have her little balcony plants watered. That and a touch of magic keep them in bloom year-round––Red bought them on a trip to Italy, and Jake helped her enchant them. It was raining then, too, and she feels relief that it’s with Daphne now, instead of listening to it by herself.
“Do you think you’re going to go?”
“Hmm?”
“With your uncle.”
Daphne yawns, buries her nose into Red’s neck. “I’m too tired to think about that.”
Gently, she twists to face Daphne, and the movement causes her to open her eyes. “You should go.”
“Nhh.”
“You love magic.”
“And I love being with you,” Daphne counters, the words evaporating into wisps on the hill of Red’s shoulder. Everything is so warm––Daphne’s breath, her skin, her touch embossing feather-light fingerprints upon the back of Red’s hand. “I don’t like being without you.”
The night is quiet. Daphne, loquacious as she usually is, always seems to say more when she is silent as she is now, breathing in time with the slowing rain. Red, rarely having much to say to begin with, simply curls into the warmth of Daphne’s body in wordless acknowledgment.
She drifts into an easy, dreamless sleep. No nightmares. Not with Daphne.
Red is the first to wake up in the morning, legs comfortably tangled with Daphne’s. The rain has all but stopped, just a few lazy drops swelling at the edge of the roof before falling onto the plant leaves. Sunbeams glow on Daphne’s cheeks, shifting and swaying.
“Hey.”
Red lies back down. “Hi.”
“I was thinking about last night,” Daphne says, yawning. “There’s...there’s a lot of stuff out there. A whole world, just waiting to be discovered.”
Red holds her breath, closes her eyes briefly. This is it, she thinks. She squeezes her hands closed, unsure of whether to keep them clenched or to smear the sweat forming onto her pajamas.
Daphne sits up now, casually picking a scab on her shin, one that she sustained a few weeks ago in a scuffle with some goblins in Faerie. “Uncle Jake’s been aging.”
“He has?”
“Yeah,” Daphne says. “He’s been talking about wanting to...to be with Briar. Not in that way, but he said he’s lived a long life.” She looks out onto the balcony, towards the sun starting to arc above the buildings. “He’s starting to get arthritis. Did you know Everafters could get arthritis?”
“No,” Red admits. “Tobias never complained. But he didn’t complain about anything, so I wouldn’t know.”
Daphne hums in agreement. “I think he should just take a break from all the magic. It’s making the gears in his head turn funny.”
She looks so pretty. Everyone looks pretty in the moments before they leave your life.
“I’m going.”
Red smiles.
“But,” Daphne continues, “I want you to come with me.”
“To look for magical objects?”
“Yes,” Daphne says earnestly. “You love magic just as much as I do. And you know how to help people with it. Uncle Jake would have loved it if you came with me, and even if he didn’t, I want you to.”
Red blinks. A whole world, waiting for them.
Daphne grabs Red’s hands, both of them fully awake now. “You’ve always said you wanted to travel,” Daphne says. “What’s stopping you?”
“I don’t know,” she admits quietly.
Daphne shakes Red’s hands. “So come with me,” she pleads. “It’s what you’ve wanted for so long, Red.”
“But Jake was only looking for a replacement,” she says helplessly, but her resolve is already melting.
“He was looking for a dime and found a dollar instead,” Daphne corrects. “Red. I want you to come with me. I don’t want to do this without you.”
She wavers. Change , she thinks. Her biggest fear, just like Sabrina. Having so little stability in her earlier life makes her crave permanency. An anchor. And yet adventure has this strange, glimmering allure that captivates her, makes her want to dance in the light of her freedom. But homes move. Anchors get pulled back onto their ships and sail away to other destinations. And maybe it can work, maybe it can, because she lives in a world of magic and there is something enchanting about it all that gives her hope.
She takes a breath, squeezes Daphne’s hands. “Okay,” she whispers. “Okay. What do you want to do?”
Daphne grins. “Whatever you want.”